Darrell Markewitz is a professional blacksmith who specializes in the Viking Age. He designed the living History program for L'Anse aux Meadows NHSC (Parks Canada) and worked on a number of major international exhibits. A recent passion is experimental iron smelting.
'Hammered Out Bits' focuses primarily on IRON and the VIKING AGE

I was flattered by exhibit organizer Brad Allan to be selected as one of the artisans anchoring this presentation of the work of contemporary blacksmithing work.

Along with contributing a number of objects, I will be undertaking a physical demonstration at the opening April 2. Here I will be using a Viking Age blacksmith's equipment (representing the first ironwork used in North America, circa 1000 AD in Vinland).

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Readers : You may have noticed a big gap in recent postings.
Life, the Universe, everything...

I * did * get that Ontario Arts Council Project Grant (!!!!)
This will put me in Belgium for the Ypres 16 event for the first week in September (see recent posts). Followed by four weeks at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Lumsden. First part is a continuation of the original Turf to Tools project, the second part my own investigations of the Scottish landscape through bronze and iron casting (and learning the techniques and equipment involved). Obviously much more on that to come.

The other things brewing here are seemingly endless work on travel arrangements, upcoming demonstrations / presentations and exhibit preparations. Again, expect to see some posts regarding those soon.

Here are a couple of short pieces pulled from recent e-mailed 'questions and answers'.*
Both relate to metal types, applications - and misconceptions :

Jeff wrote:

Hey, can you use wrought iron for a "flint and steel" or does it
REALLY need steel? I would think any old iron bar would do, since the
spark is going to spring from the oxidization of the iron.

A properly functioning 'steel' has to have both a higher carbon content - and just the right degree of
hardness put into the metal after the finished forging.
What happens when you strike is that the flint tears out a small fragment of the metal.
The resistance to the tearing process is what accelerates the
temperature, and the spark temperature and size is related to the
hardness required to force the splinter off the surface. This in turn
effectively pushes up the temperature of the splinter till it
essentially burns - that is what the spark is (high temperature
oxidation of the metal).

Too soft and the metal fragment does not get hot enough.
Too little carbon and there is not enough spark - or the resistance
required to jump the temperature.

Honestly, This is one of those simple objects I have never had the best
luck making - you have to establish and even process and the correct
selection of metal to suit the best result.
Having good flint is also critical to consistent successful sparking as
well. The black English is the best.

Like a lot of seemingly simple things, there is a lot of complexity
behind this...

******

Alan wrote:

If I take a ball peen hammer and make a cross peen‎ or straight. Would
I have to do a heat treat on it after I'm done my hamming?

Ideally - YES

Do remember that the base metal alloy in a hammer head should be higher
carbon content than the mild steel you would be forging. These even despite that the metal
being struck at forging temperature is significantly softer than any cold metal at
the same alloy content.
Between these it tells you that you likely get away with just air
cooling the re-forged hammer head, and using it in that state. You would
eventually get some distortion / mushrooming of the striking surfaces.
But remember ancient hammers were just iron (not able to be hardened at
all). These do show significant swelling at the striking faces - but did
not effect the use of the tool.

So the ideal is to harden and draw the temper back on your completed
hammer head. This would produce the most durable tool.
Just how to best undertake this would depend entirely on the source
alloy in the hammer head. Which is most likely completely unknown - right?

You might be better to leave your head a bit soft, and expect it to wear
a bit faster. Getting the head *too* hard may lead to it cracking / even
shattering - at least potentially
Oil harden if you are going to attempt to harden at all would be my
advise. Hammer heads I believe are tempered to a blue (but you should
check that!)

* Readers Please Note : If you e-mail me and I follow up with a detailed response, I will often use those as the core of future blog postings. I will just use your first name and remove any other identity.

Saturday, March 05, 2016

I have received an Ontario Arts Council 'Project' Grant.
This funds a one month of work at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop (Lumsden, outside Aberdeen, Scotland), related living costs and required transport. You can see the large block from September through early October for this project.

I have decided to extend this trip to participate in the Ypres 2016 event (Ypres Belgium) the first week of September.

I hope to attend the SCA 50th event in later June (Danville IN). This depends on my ability to mount an iron smelting demonstration / workshop at the event (still under discussion)

Obviously this all effects both the whole early Summer and especially the early Fall schedule.

Those wishing to book courses:
Should especially refer back to the main web site for the revised course dates. This especially applies to those considering Fall programs.
- At this point 'basic / introduction' courses are fully booked to the end of June.
- The normal early Fall / September basic course is cancelled
- The normal mid Fall / October basic course has been shifted to later in that month
There are still spaces remaining in the 'special / advanced' level programs.

One major effect of the special projects I am undertaking this year is to heavily modify Iron Smelting events here at Wareham.
- The Spring Smelt has been pushed earlier to the Victoria Day long weekend.
- The normal Early Fall Smelt is in effect cancelled.

Expect commentaries on all these special events as their dates approach...

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Ontario Arts Council

Canada Council

Ontario Arts Council

February - May 2012 : 'Bloom to Bar' Project Grant

February 15 - May 15, 2012 : Supported by a Crafts Projects - Creation and Development Grant

COPYRIGHT NOTICE -
All posted text and images @ Darrell Markewitz. No duplication, in whole
or in part, is permitted without the author's expressed written permission.
For a detailed copyright statement : go HERE